The other side of the pipeline story

Sunday

Dec 17, 2017 at 2:01 AM

I would like to submit a response to Dr. Mark Moore's Dec. 3 letter on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. It is of particular relevance as the State Water Control Board was scheduled to vote on the pipeline on Tuesday, and I feel it important for Crater District residents to have the opportunity to weigh the other side of the pipeline story. I am a chemical engineer with knowledge of the fracking process and a background in research, and I have heavily researched the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. My submission is as follows:

In light of Dr. Moore’s glowing endorsement of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, I think it necessary to point out several misinformed statements from his letter.

In his primary argument for the need for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), Dr. Moore states that the ACP will provide the “necessary natural gas infrastructure to spur economic, industrial, and small business development across the eleven localities that encompass the Crater District.” He fails to realize that a pipeline running near a locality does not mean the gas in the pipeline will be provided to that area. In fact, Dominion Energy initiated the ACP project just months after gaining approval to export gas to Japan and India from its Cove Point facility in Maryland. The ACP is slated to connect to the Transco pipeline which in turn flows to that Cove Point facility.

Further, Dominion vice president, Dan Weekley, was recently caught on tape saying they planned to expand the pipeline into South Carolina to provide for its gas needs. It is impossible to provide significant gas loads to VA and NC with the export of gas out-of-state and internationally to SC, Japan, and India.

In conjunction with his industrial argument for the ACP, Dr. Moore claims that energy costs will be lowered with the addition of the pipeline. The ACP will cost almost $6 billion to construct. This is money that will be charged to ratepayers. Because Dominion has an energy monopoly in our state, Virginians like Dr. Moore, you and I will be footing the bill while Dominion will pick up an almost 14 percent rate of return. When Dominion starts exporting to foreign countries like India and Japan, we will pay for it in increased domestic prices. Exporting gas increases domestic fuel costs.

Virginia will also miss out on a vital opportunity to capitalize on an ever-growing renewable energy market, whose jobs now outweigh natural gas and coal jobs by five to one. The ACP will provide a mere 39 permanent jobs here in Virginia.

Finally, in an attempt to ease concerns about the inevitable dangers of this colossal fracked gas infrastructure, Dr. Moore gives his most shocking statement: the “project will be safe, just like the 4000 miles of pipeline already in operation.” Dr. Moore must not have been aware of the Appomattox pipeline explosion that damaged around 100 homes and left almost a half mile in diameter, 20 foot deep crater in farmland less than two hours from the Crater district. This explosion was of a 30-inch pipeline operating at a pressure of around 800 psi. The massive ACP will be 42 inches in diameter and operating at a much higher pressure of about 1400 psi.

Just last year, pipeline incidents happened at a rate of around 1.5 per day. To say the least, pipeline projects are never safe.

And rather than undergoing an “unprecedented” review, as Dr. Moore calls it, to prevent the pipeline-related danger of contaminated water, the regulatory process has been rubber stamped by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Precedence for a project of this magnitude calls for a cumulative analysis of individual waterbodies in the pipeline corridor. However, the DEQ waived their state's right to perform such an analysis and decided to use the federal blanket Nationwide Permit 12 instead. Many of the landowners in the pipeline’s path have seen this lack of thorough review firsthand – they have water sources on their properties that are not even included on maps relating to the pipeline’s evaluation.

Dr. Moore was right about one thing: the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be a “game-changer.” It will permanently change the game for farmers whose property will be unconstitutionally seized and their livelihoods all but destroyed. And through the well-documented environmental hazards related to fracked gas projects, it will permanently change the game for Virginia’s environment and water. The only “golden opportunity” presented by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is profit for corporate stakeholders at the expense of entire communities in the pipeline corridor and of ratepayers like you and me.

Stacy Lovelace

Midlothian, VA

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